Tanzanian khanga fabric in the Lola stories
Lots of people have fallen absolutely in love with the dress Lola wears in the Sleepover story. It's the first time I made explicit reference to kanga in a story and Ros (Lola's illustrator) looked at many kanga patterns for inspiration.
ISBN: 978-1-907825-385
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And in the newest story, since Lulu's Nana-Bibi is visiting from Tanzania, we went wild (as is entirely appropriate)!!
She brings a present of some fabric to Lulu's mother (and a rather outrageous shirt for Daddy!).
We can see that Mum is super creative - if you look closely at the cushions around the house and the welcome bunting she and Lulu made for nana, you'll see that they are created from old khanga. |
Nana's own outfit is inspired by this beautiful khanga. 
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Look closely at Lulu's home-made bunting and you'll see the contrasting mji and pindo / large and small patterns inspired by these beautiful kanga.
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The Swahili sayings on these three Khanga are:
I Love Tanzania; A mother is incomparable, her value is inestimable, and I am grateful to you for your kindness.
I Love Tanzania; A mother is incomparable, her value is inestimable, and I am grateful to you for your kindness.
In Tanzania today, khanga are worn in the traditional way but are also inspiring modern designers who encorporate the fabric patterns into their modern designs. I think Lulu's mum has being doing just that - isn't her outfit amazing! Dad is wearing a rather loud shirt that Nana brought him - but he's carrying it off with aplomb!
